HomeBiological aspects of sexualityResponsivenessSexual responsiveness is a male characteristic

Sexual responsiveness is a male characteristic

Male orgasm is not directly linked to reproduction, but ejaculation is required. The function of male orgasm is to trigger the ejaculation of sperm. Some small boys may orgasm (as a one-off) without ejaculating but after adolescence, orgasm always triggers ejaculation. Apart from orgasm, there is no other physiological event that could account for ejaculation. Ejaculation is physical and orgasm is psychological. A man can enjoy both as separate phenomena. Male orgasm rewards a man for ejaculating and potentially impregnating a female. Faking female orgasm is also used as a reward for men. The negative reaction most women have to eroticism is evidence that few women are responsive. Female responsiveness operates at a much lower level than male responsiveness, which is very apparent and immediate.

Responsiveness is a male characteristic. Very few men orgasm infrequently. Most young men are capable of frequent ejaculation, especially with a lover. Intercourse is an act that is intended to facilitate male orgasm. Sexual frustration arises as the come-down effect of the adrenaline rush (of being repeatedly aroused) not being released by the sensations of release and reward. The physical symptoms can be very strong sensations including trembling and feeling weak at the knees. The nearest comparable sensation is the hangover you have after drinking too much alcohol the day before. A man may feel depressed and tired as well as feeling very short-tempered.

Males of all species have an instinct to mate that females do not have. A man’s sex drive to engage in intercourse involves both the reproductive event of ejaculation and the pleasure of orgasm. There is a biological reason for men to have an urgent need to engage in regular intercourse. Orgasm is part of the male reproductive function but it has nothing to do with female reproductive function. By suggesting that orgasm is equally significant to women’s sexuality, it is as if we are denying the nature of men’s sexuality.

Everything that makes a man male, his responsiveness, his sex drive and his enjoyment of sexual pleasure are all supposed to be exactly replicated in women. What then is the point of being male? Men would be the equivalent of women but without the ability to gestate and give birth to offspring. It’s as if men’s sexuality has no purpose. Nature ensures there is a balance. Male and female sexuality make different contributions. If they both had the exact same function and sexual role, there would be no point in having two sexes.

Responsiveness involves an instinct to penetrate another person’s body (a responsive woman uses fantasies to focus on penetration). Only a person who is born male (with penis and testes) can reproduce by ejaculating into a vagina. So only men have a sex drive. The role of penetrator in intercourse involves substantially more pleasure than that of the receiver. Only relatively unresponsive men or women offer a male lover the pleasure of penetration.

Our responsiveness is determined at birth and is primarily a male characteristic. We cannot learn how to become sexually responsive. It is not possible to teach someone how to orgasm. Masturbation clinics encourage women to feel better about their bodies. When a woman feels better about her body, she may be more amenable to intercourse. Needless to say, there is no need for masturbation clinics for men (nor for responsive women).

Men accept that women have to be pursued, which they attribute to female timidity or modesty. Women don’t have the responsiveness that motivates men to enjoy short-term pleasure. Men usually make the first move in dating scenarios, which puts a woman in the position of turning down the men she is not attracted to. Women’s motivation to engage in relationships comes from a much longer-term desire for affectionate companionship and family.

Female responsiveness has no biological justification. Female orgasm occurs sporadically and infrequently. Very few women are responsive. Research indicates that female orgasm is associated with women’s solitary masturbatory activity. A responsive woman generates her arousal consciously by focusing on eroticism. As a result of clitoral tumescence, she instinctively massages the increased blood-flow within the clitoral organ and thrusts to orgasm. Female arousal is subconscious, so women are rarely aware of it.

Female orgasm is rare because it involves no reproductive advantage for women. As a parallel example, some birds are flightless despite having wings. Women may have a phallus but they have largely lost their responsiveness. The clitoris is capable of becoming tumescent but it is never erect, which is what makes the penis so sensitive to stimulation. The corpora cavernosa, which are within the shaft of the penis, are within the internal clitoral organ.

Every man is responsive to varying degrees because responsiveness is a characteristic that defines him as a male. Once boys reach adolescence (defined by first ejaculation) they remain sexually active until old age. Kinsey found that men are sexually active (alone or with a lover) throughout their lives. Kinsey found that women were sexually active only when they had a sexual partner. Women who are single, widowed or divorced can exist perfectly happily for decades without engaging in any sexual activity of any kind. Clearly women do not have the same sexual needs that most men do.

By 15 years of age, 92 per cent of the males have had orgasm, but at that same age less than a quarter of the female have had such experience; and the female population is 29 years old before it includes as high a percentage of experienced individuals as is to be found in the male curve at 15. (Alfred Kinsey)

Excerpt from Learn About Sexuality (ISBN 978-0956-894748)